Punish rogue Kenya Airways managers

Long before the chaos that plunged Kenya Airways into the deep sea came to the fore, the airline’s managers knew exactly where and how their jet was leaking. The management was repeatedly informed of the weak internal controls causing massive revenue losses, but chose to ignore the counsel of the audit department.

There is good reason to believe the managers were direct beneficiaries of the continued revenue pilferage since no interventions were taken to reverse what we now know is outright theft. With no sense of ownership and lacking moral authority to stop thieving juniors, KQ’s free fall was imminent.

In three quick years to 2015, the capital base of the airline had been wiped off leaving shareholders with no claim in their insolvent company – which is now begging for a bailout from the Government using taxpayers’ money. Most taxpayers have only seen KQ aircraft flying thousands of feet above their villages, yet they must be active participants in the bailout.

Still, a common but lame defence is that the report is a draft, but that is exactly what an audit report is. Rather than have the culprits punished quietly and allowing them to walk away with their heads high, Kenyans as the ultimate owners, demand to know the truth on who got us here and the punishment to be meted out. Majority of Kenyans fondly refer to KQ as the country’s proud national carrier.